


Accusation

by townshend



Series: 30 Days of Drabbles [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-08
Updated: 2012-06-08
Packaged: 2017-11-07 07:06:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/428270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/townshend/pseuds/townshend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If anyone's to blame, Iceburg thinks it's him. Right now, that's the last thing Paulie wants to hear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Accusation

The thought that the people he'd come to rely on in his life could possibly be playing him had never occurred to Iceburg, not even when he'd taken a bullet to the shoulder and lie painfully smashed into the bedroom floor, listening to the cruel words of the man holding the gun above him. He'd never heard Lucci's real voice before - had thought Lucci _couldn't_ talk himself, actually - so he had no reason to doubt.

All he could think, as he watched the members of CP9 throw Paulie around while he sat incapable of doing anything to stop them, was that if he'd been better, more aware of his surroundings, more watchful of the people around him, then he could have stopped all of this. He could have protected himself, Paulie, Water 7, Franky, and the damn plans he'd been entrusted with if he'd just been a little more cautious. Shouldn't he have noticed suspicious activity from Kalifa? Shouldn't he have realized that four people entering his life in such close proximity to him all at once was just a little strange?

Really, Paulie could curse Lucci and Kalifa and Kaku all he wanted, but in the end, Iceburg knew that he was the one to blame.

Once it was all done and they'd tied him and Paulie together, back to back, fleeing the scene as Iceburg watched the licking flames coming in all around them, he felt Paulie's fingers brush his own and his hands struggle against the binding of the ropes, his voice murmuring curses under his breath.

"Nmaaa... This is my fault," Iceburg said, voice breathy, his sense gone in the overwhelming heat of the fire around them and the overwhelming pain of the bullet in his shoulder. "Paulie, I'm--"

"Damnit, I don't want to hear that sort of crap from you," Paulie growled, tensing his arms, flexing wrists, trying desperately to loosen or snap the ropes. He didn't bother to dwell on the inherent irony. "We're going to get out of here, so at least for now, shut the hell up with that!"

Iceburg pressed his lips together, nodding his head. He knew he deserved the accusation he wanted to give himself, but maybe Paulie was right. If they could get out, he could find a way to fix things instead of passively taking the blame.

If not, he'd die trying - but he wasn't going to die here.


End file.
